Anna matilda woodhull



(No Model.)

A. M. WOODHULL.

SAFETY SEAL FOR OHEOKS.

Patented June 26, 1888.

INVENTOR WITNESSES M W ATTORNEYS.

N. PETFRS, Plwkc-Lilhngraphnr. washingmn, c, Q

" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANNA MATILDA WOODHULL, OF FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY.

SAFETY-SEAL FOR CHECKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 385,158, dated June 26, 188:8

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANNA MATILDA W001)- r1ULL,of Freehold, in the county of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety-Seals for Checks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a safety-seal for checks, bonds, notes, and other documents; and it consists, essentially, of a centrally-apertured seal, which aperture is covered by a semi-transparent material, the whole being arranged for application to the face of the paper in connection with which it is to be employed, in the manner and for the purpose to he hereinafter described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a view of a portion of a check, representing the same as being provided with my improved form of safety-seal. Fig. 2is 5 an enlarged detail view of the seal, the view being taken upon a line corresponding approximately with the line 00 w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a central sectional view of the seal, repre senting the same as it appears priorto its ap plication to the instrument in connection with which it is to be employed; and Fig. 4 is a face view of a bunch of seals constructed in accordance with the terms of my invention.

In constructing such a seal as the one illustrated in the drawings above referred to I take any proper form of heavy paper, preferably that form of paper that is used in the manufacture of notarial and official seals, and I out such paper by means of a properly-constructed 40 die to the form required for the outer edge of the seal, which form it will of course be understood could be varied as occasion demanded; but in practice I prefer to have a die which will cut circular seals-such as those shown at in Fig. 1, said 'seals having serrated edges 2 and being delivered from the die in sheets, the several seals of the sheets being united by webs, as 3.

At the same time that the seals are cut out, as above described, the central portion of each seal is cut out, thus leaving a central aperture, 4, and an auxiliary aperture, 5, is also formed at one side of the main or central aperture. The under faces of the seals are 55 coated with any proper viscid material, and

Application filed April 2. 1887. Serial No. 283,414.

or altered.

(No model.)

to each seal there is attached a semi-transparent flap, 6, which flap covers the aperture 5 and the central aperture, 4; but in applying these flaps 6 I leave them disconnected from the main portion of the seal, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

When in use the number to be protected is Written upon the body of the instrument upon which it is to appearas, for instance, upon the body of a check, as illustrated at A in Fig. 1, and this seal is then applied so that the number will be discernible through the semitransparent flap 6.

After the seal has been applied, it would be extremely difficult to remove it from the face 7c of the instrument without leaving some telltale marks which would direct the attention of parties to whom the instrument was presented to the fact that the amount might have been tampered with; but it might be possible to remove most all of these tell-tale evidences, and it is to guard against the possibility of the clean removal of the seal that I have provided the auxiliary apertures 5, these apertures being formed in order that the body of the instrument and the semi-transparent flap 6 may be pierced by a penknife or other proper instrument after the seal has been ap plied, as represented in Fig. 1, so that no matterhow carefully the seal might be removed the abrasion of the paper of the instrument above the amount would direct the attention of the payee to the fact that the amount called for might have been changed Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a safetyseal consisting of a disk or plate hav'ingone surface coated with a viscid material and provided with a central aperture 'and a semitransparent flap covering said aperture, the whole being adapted to be applied over a character to prevent it from being tampered I O with, as set forth.

2. The combination, with a check, of a centrally-apertured disk and a semi-transparent flap, a stratum of viscid material and the flap being arranged between the check and the 5 disk, substantially as described.

ANNA MATILDA NOODHULL.

Witnesses:

SARAH S. THRooKMoRToN, CHARLOTTE G. WOODHULL. 

